Kyle Hatley, perpetual motion machine, is preparing to make a big, bold statement at the Kansas City Fringe Festival. Not that there’s anything unusual about that. Making big, bold statements is what Hatley does.
The 28-year-old playwright, director, actor and assistant artistic director of the Kansas City Repertory Theatre has been moving feverishly from one project to the next at least since last September.
Hatley served as the assistant director on every Rep production last season except “The Borderland,” an atmospheric thriller he directed at Copaken Stage.
He also directed an original three-part horror script, an audio-theater production with local actors for his online Chatterbox Theatre. He directed an innovative production of “Hamlet” at UMKC in which the audience was seated on rolling platforms that shifted during the performance.
He co-directed Ron Simonian’s raucous “Desperate Times — Desperate Measures” and will direct another Simonian piece for the Actors Equity Showcase later this summer. And in September, he’ll assist award-winning director Moises Kaufman when he stages Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” for the Rep.
“I’m addicted to momentum,” Hatley said by way of explaining his packed schedule. “And I’m also addicted to meeting new people and making new connections in the city. I’ve met more actors in the last two months than I have in all the months I’ve been here.”
At the moment, Hatley is focused on one project: “The Death of Cupid,” his attempt to transpose Greek myths into Southern vernacular with blues and gospel music.
The two-act play with a cast of 30 could turn out to be the major event of a theater-heavy Fringe Festival, which has scheduled 46 events classified as theater, spoken word, dance, burlesque or improv. “Cupid” performances begin at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Off Center Theatre in Crown Center and continue through Saturday.
Hatley said the piece began as an adaptation of “Lysistrata,” the ancient comedy by Aristophanes in which the women of Greece withhold sex in order to compel their men to stop warring.
But Hatley has used the basic narrative of “Lysistrata” to build a more complex story involving gods and goddesses — Khaos (Katie Gilchrist), Hera (Cynthia Rider), Cupid (Dina Kirschenbaum), Apollo (Nick Gehlfuss), Athena (Natalie Liccardello) and Aphrodite (Vanessa Severo).
Angela Cristantello plays Lysistrata, and there’s a female chorus led by Jennifer Mays and a male chorus led by Matt Rapport. The score arranged by Hatley and Michael Towle incorporates such traditional tunes as “Balm in Gilead,” “John Henry,” “Eyes on the Prize” and “Jacob’s Ladder.”
Hatley said his intent was to “talk about the death of fate and birth of human divinity. … There are some allusions to Christianity and other religions as well. I’m just asking the question: Why is it so easy for us to accept a god, and not see ourselves as divine?”
“The Death of Cupid” will share the Off Center Theatre with three other productions in the festival: “Advice From a Spider,” written and directed by Vanessa Severo; BOOM! An International Lost and Found Family Marching Band; and “Naughty Knickers — Take II,” the latest edition of Marisa MacKay’s Burlesque Downtown Underground.
The four groups decided to band together to share promotional resources and even held a joint fundraiser two weeks ago.
“They’re doing exactly what we’ve been encouraging people to do,” said festival coordinator Cheryl Kimmi. “Part of the festival’s goal is to bring artists together and create new collaborations. They’re the example I hope everyone would follow.”
One reason the four were booked into the same venue, Kimmi said, is that the shows have so many overlapping cast members.
Hatley and Heidi Van, who is producing and performing in “Advice From a Spider,” shared a performance space at last year’s festival, so it made sense to help each other this year.
“Heidi and I were sort of Fringe buddies last year, and that’s when I first saw BOOM! and Marisa,” Hatley said. “So I called them up, and we met and thought it was a good idea to figure out how to combine resources and collaborate. We jokingly refer to us as the Four Horsemen. All of our shows are about sex, death and disappointment — and maybe a little hope in there, too.”
By ROBERT TRUSSELL
The Kansas City Star